Ex-husband charged with murder feared losing son, police say

Monday

Jan 27, 2014 at 1:20 PMJan 27, 2014 at 1:28 PM

BRENTWOOD — Murder suspect Aaron Desjardins confessed to his brother-in-law that he killed his ex-wife, Amanda “Amy” Warf, and claimed she was trying to “take his son William away from him,” according to a recently unsealed affidavit filed in Rockingham County Superior Court.

Jeff McMenemy

BRENTWOOD — Murder suspect Aaron Desjardins confessed to his brother-in-law that he killed his ex-wife, Amanda “Amy” Warf, and claimed she was trying to “take his son William away from him,” according to a recently unsealed affidavit filed in Rockingham County Superior Court.

Desjardins confessed to killing his ex-wife in an abandoned concrete plant off Hampton Road in Exeter during a phone conversation with Bob Hutchinson four days after the slaying, according to the affidavit.

“Aaron explained to Bob that he and Sarah (Desjardins, his new wife) 'both decided to do it,” New Hampshire State Police Detective Brian Strong stated in the affidavit. “He said, 'both of us planned it, both of us executed it.' Aaron stated 'it was both of ours decision to kill Amanda.'”

Desjardins, 37, of Epping, is charged with first-degree murder for the March 7, 2013 slaying of his ex-wife. Prosecutors alleged he killed Warf, 36, and then set her body on fire to try to cover up the evidence. Their son was 11 months old at the time of Warf's death.

Desjardins has filed documents with the court saying he intends to use the insanity defense when his case goes to trial. The 19-page affidavit filed in Rockingham County Superior Court paints a portrait of Desjardins as a calculating killer who planned his ex-wife's murder, talked with his current wife and sister about concocting alibis and then tried to cover up the slaying.

Desjardins also acknowledged in a phone call that was recorded by investigators that he had lied to Warf's mother when he told her he did not kill her daughter, the affidavit states.

“During the conversation, Aaron said that 'it was horrible,' 'we are monsters' and 'I am a monster,'” Strong stated in the affidavit. “We did this for William and us.”

Desjardins and Warf had shared custody of their son.

In another recorded phone call on the next day, March 12, 2013, Hutchinson called Desjardins and his sister, Sarah Desjardins, according to the affidavit. During that phone conversation, Desjardins stated he “used the gun to coerce Amy to go into the concrete factory,” according to the affidavit.

A third suspect, Michele Corson, 44, was indicted on charges of accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension. Corson is Aaron Desjardins' sister.

The affidavit was filed in support of a search warrant to get cell phone records related to the case.

During an interview with Trooper William Bright and Sgt. Jeff Ladieu after police arrested Desjardins, the Epping man again confessed to police that he committed the crime and that he planned the murder in advance, according to the affidavit.

“Aaron admitted that he killed Amanda 'Amy' Warf by slitting her throat with a white Dexter utility knife,” Strong states in the affidavit. “He said that he also struck her in the head with a handgun. He said that he poured gasoline on her body and lit it on fire.”

Desjardins told police his sister brought the gun he used in the slaying down from Maine and gave it to him, according to the affidavit.

Desjardins also admitted to police that he had scouted out the abandoned City Concrete building in the week prior to the killing and on the day before “went back to the building and left a bag of supplies,” according to the affidavit.

Desjardins also admitted to police that two months before killing his ex-wife, he planned to “pin” her death on her current boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend, according to the affidavit.

In addition to Desjardins' admissions, troopers interviewed his current wife, Sarah Desjardins, on March 13, 2013 at the Troop A Barracks in Epping.

She admitted that there had been a “loose plan” in place to kill Warf, and acknowledged it was possible the plan began two months before the slaying, according to the affidavit.

Sarah Desjardins told investigators that her husband “got really upset,” after the court changed the parenting plan for him and Warf, according to the affidavit.

“The plan was recently modified so that Amy did not have to pay Aaron's life insurance premiums but Aaron still had to pay Amy $5,000 when he sold their house,” Strong states in the affidavit.

“Sarah said that she talked to him about portions of the plan approximately 10 times in the three-week period prior to Amy's death,” Strong states in the affidavit.

She also told investigators that a few days before Warf's slaying, Desjardins decided to stop fighting with Warf about the parenting plan, “because he didn't want it to appear that they were fighting,” according to the affidavit.

When Warf canceled a counseling session, “the plan to kill Amy really firmed up,” Sarah Desjardins told investigators, according to the affidavit. She also recounted how her husband had shaved his head in order to avoid leaving “DNA evidence,” according to the affidavit.

Sarah Desjardins told investigators that on the day of Warf's killing, she heard her husband's alarm go off at 5 a.m., and he got up and told her he would be back in two hours.

“Sarah said that she heard Aaron return and she went downstairs and saw Aaron in black boxers and that there was either blood or cuts on his hands,” Strong stated in the affidavit. “Sarah said she asked him if he killed her and he said, 'it's done.'”

Sarah Desjardins originally told police on March 7 that the murder suspect was home with her in bed and that they had woke up at 7 a.m. and he had “got frisky,” according to the affidavit.

Other information in the affidavit pertaining to the investigation of Warf's killing included:

• Warf sent a text to her boyfriend who she had just moved in with on 6:23 a.m. on the day of the murder. He sent one back to her at 7:38 a.m., but it was never returned.

••One of Warf's co-workers saw the Hampton resident, who worked at the Exeter Hospital business office on Holland Way, pull into her usual parking spot on the morning of the murder before she “abruptly stopped and turned around.”

• Aaron Desjardins told police on the day Warf's body was discovered that Warf had “laid a bomb on him,” when she told him she wanted a divorce and that he was “p----- off,” when she left him.

• A friend of Warf's told police that the Hampton woman believed Sarah Desjardins could not have children, but “wanted to be a mother.”

• Investigators located everything Aaron Desjardins said he brought to the murder scene and seized a gun from his home.

• Sarah Desjardins saw her husband come home after Warf's slaying with “blood on his hands,” and he immediately threw his underwear in the trash, along with a strip of duct tape. Later, she saw him using bleach to wipe down her gray Toyota Corolla, which he had driven to the abandoned concrete plant.

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